Hello. My name is Lubin Odana. Here's some stuff you might find funny or interesting. Or not.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2005

I'd be a rubbish time-traveller

I think I am getting a little too into my 1981 video project. I watched Scanners last night (bizarrely my parents allowed me to see this when I was 9 - I was allowed to watch a head explode, but they wouldn't let me see the relative naffness of Poltergeist, which let's face it - is just an episode of Living Tv's Most Haunted that got a bit out of hand). Anyway, all this 1970s/early 80s tv is making me yearn to be back in 1981 again. These old films, which I saw during a "formative period" are reminding me so much of my childhood and all the great things about it. It's like the time I found a Ms Pacman machine at Denver train station and it reminded me of one summer in the early 80s when all I did was play Ms Pacman in Torquay. Then I started thinking about how, after the initial "wow, it's 1981!" feeling you'd get if someone invented a time machine, how in fact it'd probably get boring pretty fast. Only 3 tv channels, shops with really short opening hours, supermarkets that only sell milk, bread, meat, potatoes and apples, no internet, cashcard machines, laptops or ipods. People with really greasy hair who were small (have you ever tried on the clothes in retro shops - I swear, everyone was a midget before 1990 - I'd have to have all my clothes specially made). Also, the casual ingrained racism, sexism and homophobia would probably start to jar after about 10 minutes. With all that said, it'd still be kind of fun. For a weekend or so. Is there anywhere where it's still 1981?

I am listening to "The Joker" by Anthony Newley (available on Itunes). It's the original version of the Kath and Kim theme tune, a really gaudy over-the-top show-tunes number. Anthony Newley has one of the strangest singing voices in the world making this a very unusual musical experience...